Digimon: A New Beginning
by Daletiel
Summary: When a tragedy occurs in a young teenager's life, he is thrown head-long into his destiny. Chapter 7 is now up, after much waiting.
1. Chapter I

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I do not own Digimon or any of it's property. Any original characters or digimon in this story have been created by ME, and any similarities that they may have to other characters should be taken as coincidence, and dismissed just as quickly. If anyone wishes to use my characters (god forbid! *~*) in one of their stories, please ask before doing so. Please note, just because I am writing this story due to the fact that I have writer's block for another of my stories (entitled Dragonball Z: Power of the Fates), doesn't mean that I am just going to try and get everyone to read a load of crap. Now, enough of my babbling, and on with the story!  
  
NOTE: Rated PG-13 for violence and swearing.  
  
NOTE: This story takes place two years after season 2, and disregards TK's explanations about what happened after the battle with MaloMyotismon.  
  
  
RRRRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGGGG!!!!!!!  
  
A slightly tanned hand shot out from under the covers of a bed to hit the snooze button of his alarm clock. He groaned sleepily, and slowly removed himself from the bed, nearly choking himself with the comforter in the process. He started to drag himself towards the bathroom across the hall, but fell flat on his face as his legs didn't seem to want to move. Blushing in embarrassment and surprise, he crawled the rest of the way. After fighting a battle to get the door open, he forced himself up to the sink and turned on the faucet. Once the water was at the right temperature, he cupped his hands to let some of the water pool in them, and splashed the water onto his face. He blinked rapidly, clearing the water from his eyes. That worked, he thought to himself.  
  
"Jake!" his mother yelled from the lower floor of the house, "Are you ready yet? You do remember what today is, right?" Slowly, Jake's mind connected the day's date to the event his mother was referring to. June 25th...was the day that he and his parents were going to visit Japan for summer vacation. A friend of the family had recommended it as a great vacation spot.  
  
He looked himself over in the mirror as he prepared to take a shower and finish getting ready. His body could be considered slim, but there was obvious evidence of well-defined muscles on his chest, arms and legs. His greyish blue eyes could pierce even the hardest of exteriours with their raptor-like gaze. He ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair, smirked and got in the shower. After being stressed out by his exams for the past week, it felt good for him to have something to look forward to. Once he was finished his shower, he walked into his room to change into his trademark outfit, for which he was known throughout his school: a black tank top, a blue leather jacket, a pair of blue jeans with a black belt hanging down, a pair of black army boots, a pair of blue wristbands and a pair of custom made black sunglasses with a blue tint. Satisfied with his appearance, he dashed downstairs to meet his parents at the breakfast table. His father groaned when he saw Jake's choice of clothing.  
  
"Are you ever going to wear something different?" he asked. Jake grinned at his father's jab at his clothes.  
  
"I'll change what I wear when you stop complaining about it," he replied, smirking at his little joke. His father sighed, and went back to reading the morning paper.  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
"Now arriving, American Airlines flight 93 from New York, New York to Odaiba, Japan. Please be sure to retrieve your carry-on bags before departing. Be safe, and enjoy Japan," the loudspeaker sounded. Jake stepped off the plane with a grin on his face. I'm finally free of school! he exclaimed to himself. He looked around the large, bustling building full of businesspeople and tourists alike, spotted his parents in the distance and began to make his way through the crowd towards them. Suddenly, he saw a multi-coloured streak out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see what it was, when he bumped into someone and the two of them fell to the floor with a crash. He shook his head to clear the cobwebs, got up and dusted himself off. Then, turning to the person whom he had bumped into, he extended his hand to the girl.   
  
She seemed to be Jake's age, with dyed pink hair and a well- developed body. Indeed, for Jake found himself staring at her body for longer than he should have been. The girl reached up and accepted Jake's hand, which brought him back to reality.  
  
"I'm sorry," Jake said, quickly moving his gaze to her face, "I guess I wasn't watching where I was going." He pulled the girl to her feet, and she smiled in response.  
  
"That's ok," she replied, "I should have been watching too." Jake smiled and bowed partly, as was the custom in Japan.  
  
"My name's Jake Stevens," he said, "I'm from New York. I'm visiting Japan on my summer vacation with my parents." The girl's eyes widened in surprise.  
  
"You don't say," she replied, "I live there too! I've come back for a reunion with some old friends. By the way, I'm Mimi Tachikawa." She bowed as well, and her eyes wandered to the clock which hung on the wall just behind Jake. "Shit!" she cried, "I'm gonna be late! Well, it was nice meeting you, Jake. Maybe we'll bump into each other again some time in the future. Bye!" With a wink of her eye and a wave of her hand, she dashed off and out the revolving front door of the airport, leaving Jake standing by himself in the middle of the airport.  
  
"Goodbye, Mimi," he called after her, before running off to meet his parents, who were waving him over at the other end of the airport.  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
As Mimi left the airport, a dark, menacing figure crept forward, eyeing Jake with a look of curiosity. As Jake dashed off, the figure's eyes never left him. It's face took on a thoughtful look, and it shifted it's gaze onto Jake's parents, before slinking backwards and creeping out the back door. 


	2. Chapter II

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Digimon, but the situations that I put the characters in are MINE, and MINE alone. Now kick back, toss back a drink and enjoy!  
  
When Jake finally got to his parents, he was slightly winded from the effort of pushing through so many people. His parents smiled when he got there, and they proceeded out of the airport to find someplace to stay for the duration of their vacation. Once out in the bright sunshine, Jake's father leaned over to Jake.  
  
"Who was that girl you were talking to?" he asked, slightly implying emotions. Jake shrugged his shoulders.  
  
"Oh, it was no one," he replied, "Just some girl who's here to visit some of her old friends." His father grinned at him.  
  
"You were interested in her weren't you," he said slyly. Jake's eyes widened and he shook his head.  
  
"I don't think so!" he exclaimed, "She may have been attractive, but I'm not looking for a relationship right now. I'm content with just kicking back and seeing the sights on this vacation." His father shrugged his shoulders.  
  
"Alright, son," he said, "I won't press you any more. We had better wait for your mother. It seems as if she's fallen behind." Jake nodded, and the two of them waited at the street corner for Mrs. Stevens.  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
Stepping out into the bright sunshine, Mimi looked around and spotted someone standing beside a bright red convertible, waving their arms in her direction. As she got closer, she realized that the figure was none other than her old friend Sora Takenouchi. Mimi started running, and in no time was hugging her friend profusely.  
  
"It's good to see you again, Mimi," Sora said, a little embarrassed at Mimi's sudden public display of affection, "It's been so long since I've seen you." Mimi shook her head.  
  
"It's only been a year since the last digi-world fiasco with MaloMyotismon," she replied, shivering visibly at the thought of the evil digimon who had attempted to take over the digital world numerous times. She peered intently at Sora, and put on a laughable look of shock. "Sora Takenouchi," she cried, "is that a new outfit?" Sora blushed at the comment.  
  
"Yeah," she said, "I'm going to surprise Matt with it. You wanna come and double the surprise?" Mimi got a glint in her eyes that made her look a lot like she did in the days of their first adventure in the digital world.  
  
"Let's do it!" she responded, clapping Sora on the back, "It's been too long since I've seen that stubborn boyfriend of yours." Mimi jumped into the passenger side, while Sora walked around the car and climbed into the driver's seat. Mimi's eyes widened suspiciously in sudden realization.  
  
"Sora..." she asked, "Aren't you a little young to be driving by yourself?" Sora grinned mischievously.  
  
"Who said I was alone?" Sora said, rather loudly. Suddenly, a hand reached up from the backseat and grabbed Mimi's shoulder. Mimi shrieked as if there were a demon behind her, but settled down when she saw who had startled her.  
  
"Yes!" Sora exclaimed, pumping her fist into the air, "Nice job, Matt!" Matt sat up from his hiding place and grinned, right before embracing Mimi in a bear hug.  
  
"It's great to see you again, Mimi," he said. Mimi's cheeks were still flushed from Matt's embrace.  
  
"It's great to see you too, Matt," she replied shakily. Sora just smiled as she started up the car and began to drive to their destination.  
  
"Enough about us, Mimi," she said, "Tell us...has anything intersting happened to you since your plane landed?" Mimi frowned at the question, but her eyebrows went up as she remembered her encounter with Jake.  
  
"Now that you mention it," she said, "I did meet a cute guy named Jake in the airport." Matt grinned from the backseat.  
  
"Always on the lookout for someone new, eh Mimi?" he asked. Mimi shook her head furiously.  
  
"Of course not," she exclaimed, her cheeks turning red in the process, "Although he did look...intriguing." Matt shook his head.  
  
"I feel sorry for the guy already," he said jokingly. Mimi shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"Who knows if I'll see him again," she said, "but that's enough of this. Let's go to Tai's house. I can't wait to see what he and Kari have been up to."  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
A couple of hours later, Jake and his parents were sitting in the park. They had checked into their hotel, an average place in downtown Odaiba with generous people and an air of dignity. Jake walked over to his parents, who were sitting on a bench and feeding some birds.  
  
"You know that if you keep feeding them like that, they'll start to follow you around, hoping for more food, right?" he asked. His mother smiled.  
  
"It would be nice to have some birds around the house, wouldn't it, dear?" she asked her husband, who was staring off into space. His wife's voice snapped him out of his state, though.  
  
"Huh...what was that, honey?" he asked, confused by people suddenly talking to him. Jake's mother lost the smile.  
  
"Oh, never mind," she said, turning to her son, "Now what was it that you were going to ask me, Jake?" Jake's eyes widened in surprise.  
  
"But...how...?" he barely managed to stutter. His mother's eyes narrowed jokingly.  
  
"You remember where you came from, mister," she lightly reprimanded, "I know things about you, you are my son after all." Jake sighed and shook his head.  
  
"I'm going to see if I can find some people my own age to talk to," he said, lifting his arm in farewell, "I'll be back in a bit." He strolled off down the well-worn path, searching for someone his age. He was taken aback by the beautiful scenery. The lush variety of plant and animal life was stunning. The trees towered above his head like ancient redwoods, and the flowers took his breath away with their beauty. He even thought he saw a herd of small deer grazing in a glade off to his right. It's so beautiful, he thought to himself, I can hardly believe that this place has hardly been touched. He was snapped out of his serene state by a female voice yelling, "Look out!"  
  
He hardly had enough time to duck as a rock whistled by his head, and it was aimed at the spot where his forehead had been a mere moment ago. He spun around and saw a fairly muscular kid standing a few inches shorter than him and probably a few years younger, as well. He had bleached blonde hair spiked up in every direction possible, and he had a number of scars on his knuckles, which meant that he had split them open numerous times. He probably split them open on other kids' heads, Jake thought.  
  
"You're on my property," the kid said, probably hoping to scare Jake away. Jake wasn't impressed.  
  
"Who exactly made this your property, kid?" he asked quizzically. The kid's eyes narrowed.  
  
"Don't call me kid, man. I'm Spike Johnson and this is my territory," he said, confidently. Jake merely shook his head.  
  
"For what reason, exactly, did you find it necessary to toss that rock at me, Spike?" he asked. Spike shrugged his shoulders.  
  
"A man's got to protect what's his," he said simply. Jake sighed and shook his head.  
  
"Well, guess what, Spike," he said, "This won't be yours for very much longer." At this point, a group of younger kids, most likely Spike's victims, were gathering around them. Spike was momentarily startled by their sudden appearance, but quickly regained his composure and dropped into a fighting stance.  
  
"I'd like to see you prove that," he said, gesturing Jake towards him. Jake sighed. He wouldn't be able to talk his way out of this one. Spike obviously wanted a fight, but after realizing just what he had done to these kids, Jake was much obliged to give him exactly what he wanted.  
  
Jake raced down the path and quickly ate up the distance between them. Spike was startled by Jake's sudden show of speed, but he wasn't prepared to back down now, so he grimly waited for his opponent to come. Jake brought his fist at Spike in a roundhouse punch, but Spike leaned back and evaded it. However, Jake spun with his punch and swept Spike's legs out from under him. Spike landed on his hands and flipped himself back to his feet. He growled and went on the attack.  
  
Spike grappled with Jake, hoping to wrestle him to the ground where he could finish it. He didn't get that far. Jake used his hands to break Spike's hold and performed a backflip, catching Spike's jaw with both of his feet. Spike flew back about 10 feet, but apart from the rouch landing, he was fine, albeit a bit dazed.  
  
Jake slowly walked over to Spike, and knelt over him, checking him for any serious injuries. Finding none, he jerked Spike, who was slowly regaining his bearings, into a sitting position.  
  
"Don't touch any of these kids again. If you even look at them the wrong way, and I find out, I won't be so lenient the next time," he said, and got up to leave. Spike reached up and grabbed the left arm of Jake's jacket.  
  
"Remember by name asshole, because I'll make sure you don't forget it," he snarled. Jake balled his right hand into a fist and spun around, knocking Spike out with a solid punch to the jaw. Jake got up and dusted himself off as Spike slumped to the ground. He glared down at his adversary.  
  
"Never touch the jacket," he stated, and, ignoring the cheers of the kids surrounding him, walked off down the path in the direction that the voice had come from. 


	3. Chapter III

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I am putting the characters into situations of my own devising. A warning, this chapter deals with mature subject matters, and reader discretion is advised. I would probably rate this chapter closer to R than PG-13. Here it is.  
  
Jake walked along the path for a little while, before spotting a girl a few years younger than him waving in his direction near a grove of maple trees. He sped up his pace and reached the girl a few minutes later. She was a brunette with shoulder length hair and bright hazel eyes. She wore a sleeveless pink and white shirt that cut off above her belly button, and long gloves that came up past her elbows. She had bright yellow shorts, and high cut pink shoes. She looked relieved when Jake approached her.  
  
"I was afraid you had been hurt," she told him, "Spike only acts like that when it comes to people he doesn't like, but I assume that you've already guessed that." Jake nodded.  
  
"It was kind of hard not to notice," he agreed, "You're glad that I'm alright, but you don't even know my name." The girl smiled shyly.  
  
"I may not know your name," she replied, bowing slightly, "but maybe I'd like to know it. My name's Kari Kamiya." Jake smiled and bowed in response.  
  
"You have a beautiful name, Kari," he said, "I'm Jake Stevens." Kari's eyes lit up as she thought of something.  
  
"Would you like to come with me?" she asked, "I could introduce you to some friends of mine, since you're new in town." Jake shook his head, and her gaze faltered.  
  
"I'm sorry, Kari," he said soothingly, "I have to meet my parents back near the front of the park. I've already been gone too long." He turned to go, but craned his neck back towards Kari. "Who knows," he said, "The next time I see you can take me to meet these friends of yours." He took off at a run down the path, calling back over his shoulder, "See you around, Kari!" Kari smiled, waving at Jake's retreating figure before he rounded a bend leading to the entrance of the main clearing of the park. Suddenly, it occurred to her to follow him, to see what kind of people his family was.   
  
Who knows, she thought to herself, Maybe he can make an excuse to his parents and we can meet up with TK and the others right now. With renewed vigour, she dashed down the path after Jake.  
____________________________________________________________________________ 

  
Something's out of place, Jake realized as he sped along the well- tread path through the park. The sun was shining brightly, reflecting the natural colours found within the park. I should be able to hear people talking. The silence is so thick that I could hear a pindrop from the front of the park. Something's not right...and I have a bad feeling about this. He upped his speed, and was soon running full speed along the path. The wind was wipping through his hair, sending it in all different directions.  
  
As he arrived at the head of the clearing, he realized what was so out of place. A shady figure was waving a 10' switchblade at two middle aged people, a man and a woman, and his voice was so loud that the trees vibrated with the noise.  
  
"Give me the money, and the woman doesn't get hurt," the figure saied, menacingly. The man was scared, Jake was sure, but he did a good job of hiding it. He calmly reached into his back pocket, and retrieved a wallet. He extended his hand to the thug, who grabbed the wallet greedily. "The watch, too," the thug said. The man sighed, and unclasped the latch holding his watch in place. As he lifted it off of his wrist, the sunlight reflected off of a finely polished gold watchband.  
  
What the hell, Jake whispered, realizing that he vaguely recognized the watch, Oh my god... The thug accepted the watch, and began to look it over, obviously trying to see if it was genuine. Satisfied, he turned to the couple. "Alright," he said, gesturing with the switchblade, "You two can go." The woman sighed in relief, and the pair turned to leave. "Oh wait," the thug said, sounding strangely nice, "There's just one more thing." The man turned to the thug, and was obviously impatient, wanting to get himself and the woman out of there as soon as possible.  
  
"Yes?" he asked quizzicaly. The voice sounded strangely familiar to Jake, and he began up the path towards the scene. The thug smirked, grabbing the woman, who shrieked in response.  
  
"Goodbye," he said, running the switchblade across the woman's neck, slitting her throat. The man cried out in rage and horror, and moved to attack the murderer. The murderer released the woman, and had stabbed the man in the gut before she had even hit the dirt. The man clasped his hands over the wound, trying to staunch the bleeding, but it was a wide slash. He fell to his knees as his lifeblood drained from his body. He turned his head in the opposite direction, and his gaze met Jake's.  
  
Dear god, Jake gasped, please tell me that wasn't who I think it was. He rushed forward at an alarming rate, and was able to catch the man before he fell. Whipping off his jacket, he bunched it into a ball and lay it under the man's head and turned the head so that he could see the man's face. His father's eyes gazed up at him distantly, and Jake felt tears beginning to form in his eyes.   
  
"Father," he whispered, "I'm so sorry. I should have been here. If only I hadn't left..." His father shook his head furiously, nearly choking in the process.  
  
"Jake...it's not...your fau--" he began, but was unable to finish the sentence. He looked fondly upon his son one last time...and went limp in Jake's arms, never to look upon anything again. Jake choked down a sob, and slowly brought his hand across his father's eyes, closing them. He collapsed to his knees, pounding his fists into the ground.  
  
"This can't be happening!" he bellowed, "Please god...tell me this isn't happening..."  
____________________________________________________________________________ 

  
As Kari dashed down the path, she questioned herself about Jake. I feel something about him, she mused, He seems...unique. As if he's different from everyone else. Kind of like what I notice about myself...and TK... Suddenly, a scream cut through the air, causing her to speed up her pace. As she entered the clearing, she found the source of the scream. She saw Jake, pounding the ground with tears in his eyes, bellowing in rage. His head snapped around, catching a glimpse of a dark figure attempting to slink his way out of the park. Jake was after him in a flash, growling sadistically. It was obvious that Jake wanted the figure dead. When the figure noticed Jake coming towards him, he smirked, and held out his hand in challenge, motioning Jake to take his best shot. The rate at which Jake ate up the distance between the two of them was astounding, but not completely unexpected. The figure had just killed his parents, after all.   
  
However, Jake was blinded by his rage, and his attacks were not very accurate. The figure was able to counter-attack each time, and Jake was barely able to evade the counter-attacks. He suddenly tripped over a loose piece of dirt, and with a cry of surprise, fell backward heavily on his back, knocking the wind out of him. That slip up was what the figure was waiting for. He dashed forward and jumped on top of Jake, pinning him to the ground.  
  
Meanwhile, Kari approached the scene tentatively, unsure how to proceed. Her first urge was to try and help Jake, but it was obvious that he was dealing with someone very skilled, and she would very likely get in his way. As she was walking forward, she tripped over something, causing her to stumble to the ground. She cried out in surprise and pain as her right knee scraped across the rough pavement that comprised the path. She turned to see what she had tripped over...and gasped in horror at the sight of two dead bodies. She reflexively began to gag, but managed to keep herself under control. She noticed something propping up the head of one of the bodies. She reached out and gently lowered the head to the ground while taking the object. She held the jacket that Jake had been wearing a scant few minutes ago. Her gaze turned to Jake, who was still struggling with the figure, who she assumed was the killer, on top of him, with sympathy in her eyes. These people must have been his parents, she thought sadly, Oh, Jake...  
  
The killer suddenly cried out in surprise as he caught a glimpse of Jake's face. "You!" he cried out, "You are the one that has been spoken of! I must end you before you become a nuiscance to me." The killer flicked his wrist, and out came the switchblade. The once brightly polished blade was now dark with blood. The sight of it made Jake's blood boil, and he tensed his muscles to strike when his adversary's guard came down. "Farewell, chosen one," the killer said smugly, raising the switchblade in a killing stroke. Jake, anticipating this move, brought his right leg up and sent a kick to the back of the killer's head, sending him sprawling forward. Jake flipped himself to his feet, and leapt upon his assailant, deliviring punch after punch to the killer's face. The killer smirked as he was getting pounded on by Jake.  
  
"You're more resilient then I first realized," he said calmly, "I'll have to keep an eye on you." He brought his right hand to Jake's chest and traced a symbol on Jake's chest, just above his heart. Jake cried out in pain and clapped a hand over his heart, attempting to regain his hold on the killer with his free hand, but he was too weak to react in time. The killer smirked, and began walking down the other end of the path.  
  
"You bastard!" Jake yelled, "I don't care how long it takes, but you will pay for this, I swear it!" He groaned and fell to his knees. "I'll get you..." he mumbled weakly, before his knees gave way, and fell onto his stomach, unconscious.  
____________________________________________________________________________ 

  
When Jake collapsed to the ground, Kari quickly got up and began to walk towards him. Before she got far, however, a pair of hands clamped onto her shoulder and spun her around. She found herself looking up into the face of a police officer.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Kari asked tentatively. The cop looked grimly over to where Jake was lying.  
  
"While we were driving by, we saw that kid over there," he began, gesturing towards Jake, "beating up a defenseless man for no apparent reason. So we circled around to enter the park from the other direction. We're here to take him down to the station for questioning." Kari was staring at the cop in shock.  
  
"For no apparent reason!?!" Kari exclaimed, "Are you out of your mind!?! You don't know the half of what happened." The cop crossed his hands across his chest.  
  
"Then why don't you tell us, miss," he said politely. Kari growled.  
  
"That 'defenseless man' that he was beating up killed his parents!" she yelled. The police officer scoffed.  
  
"Do you have any proof of this?" the officer asked. Kari jerked her hand towards the bodies of Jake's parents.  
  
"What, two dead bodies aren't evidence enough?" she asked. The cop's eyes widened as his gaze went to the two bodies. He brought out his radio, and was calling people as fast as he could talk. Once finished with the radio, he went over to the officers holding Jake, who was still unconscious.   
  
"Bring him down to the station," he said in an undertone, "We need to find out what really happened here." The cops holding Jake nodded, and began to half carry, half drag Jake to their waiting cop car. He turned and walked back towards Kari. "Move along now, miss," he told her, "There's nothing more to see." Kari clutched the jacket in a shaking hand.  
  
"You're not blaming him for it, are you?" she asked. The cop shrugged his shoulders.  
  
"We don't know yet. We can't set him free, solely based on what was seen by one witness," he said, "Besides, did you see the murder happen?" Kari bit her lip.  
  
"Well, no," she said. The cop sighed.  
  
"Then there's no way for you to prove his innocence," he stated. Kari's gaze faltered. The cop took a step forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Look, miss, we have to find a motive before we can do anything. If we can't find one, then he's free to go." Kari sighed and nodded. The cop nodded and smiled, then slowly walked back to the cop car. Taking one last look at the car that Jake had been put in, Kari went to go look for a phone booth to call her brother. 


	4. Chapter IV

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but these are my original ideas. If anyone would be interested in drawing a picture of Jake, please e-mail me at niceguy_cuz_i_wanna_be@hotmail.com, or you can reach me on MSN Instant Messenger with the same e-mail. If not, I will attempt to draw it myself, and you can e-mail me for a copy.  
  
Kari found a phone booth after a few minutes the police officers left the park with Jake. She opened her purse, and withdrew her wallet. Shifting her grip on Jake's jacket, she opened her wallet and took out her calling card. She returned her wallet to her purse, and, after setting both her purse and Jake's jacket onto the ground, inserted her calling card into the proper slot in the phone. Lifting the receiver, she dialled the number for her house, and waited. After the second ring, someone picked up on the other end. 

"This is Tai," her brother said. 

"Hi, Tai, it's me," Kari replied. 

"What's up, Kari?" he asked. Kari sighed. 

"Not so good," she replied, "I need your help." 

"Just name it," Tai said, "I'll do whatever I can to help." The corners of Kari's mouth rose a little bit. 

"I need to return something." she began. ____________________________________________________________________________ 

  
When Jake finally regained consciousness, he found himself sitting in a straight-backed wooden chair with his hands behind his back. When he tried to bring his arms in front of him, he felt the metal of handcuffs bite into the skin on his wrists. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the little light there was, and found himself in a blank room with nothing inside it but two chairs, one of which Jake was currently sitting in, and a table. Jake looked around the room calmly, searching for a way to escape the room. Jerking his head towards the door, he heard footsteps coming from the hallway outside the door. The door opened slowly, and a well-dressed man stepped into the room. Jake glared at him coldly. 

"What am I doing here?" he asked. The man walked over to the table and sat down in the second chair. 

"You're here because we need to find out what happened in that park," the man replied. Jake scoffed at the man. 

"Then why am I in handcuffs?" he demanded. The man shrugged his shoulders, got up and walked around behind Jake. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small key. Crouching down, he inserted the key into the lock of the handcuffs and, with a sharp twist, the lock clicked open. Jake jerked his hands forward, and massaged his wrists, allowing the blood to flow a little bit better. He turned around as the man rose to his feet. 

"Who are you?" Jake inquired. The man smiled and extended his hand. 

"My name is Detective Stephen Folk," he said, "I'm afraid I didn't catch your name." Jake accepted Detective Folk's hand. 

"I'm Jake Stevens," he replied. The detective gestured towards the empty chair, and Jake sat down, hoping to get the inquisition over with as fast as possible. "What can I do for you, detective?" After the introductions, the detective seemed a little more relaxed. 

"Well, for starters, you can tell me exactly what happened earlier today," he said. Jake sighed, groaning inwardly. This is going to take a while, he conceded. ____________________________________________________________________________ 

  
In the half an hour that followed, Jake gave Detective Folk his story, but he decided to exclude Kari and the strange symbol on his chest, which seemed to pulse with an unnatural glow. The detective was silent throughout the time when Jake told his story, and when it was finished, he stood up slowly. 

"You've given us a lot to think about, Jake," Folk said. He reached into his breast pocket, pulled out a business card and handed it to Jake. "Here's my card. If you remember anything else, feel free to call me." Jake took the card and nodded. 

"Alright," he replied, "but the minute something happens, be it good or bad, I want you to contact me." Folk smiled and nodded. 

"Will do," he said, moving to the door, "You can collect your thoughts and leave any time your ready." Jake nodded and waved Folk away. Folk walked out the door, closing it shut behind him. Jake examined the card that Detective Folk had given him, shrugged his shoulders and put it into his pocket. He moved to the door, opened it and walked into the lobby. As he walked into the room, he saw someone his age talking to one of the cops who, Jake assumed, had brought him in. 

"Come on," the teenager argued, "He had to have been brought here. This is the closest station to the park, and my sister saw the crest of this department on the car." The teenager gestured back to his sister, who was sitting in one of the chairs in the waiting room, with her head bowed and something grasped tightly in her hands. For some reason, the girl seemed familiar to Jake, but how he could know her, he had no idea. As if on cue, she lifted her head, and Jake suddenly realized where he recognized her. The teenager, who noticed Jake enter the room while arguing with the cop, watched intently as Jake quickly walked through the reception area and into the waiting room. The girl's eyes widened as she saw Jake approach her. The guy who was formerly arguing with the cop, excused himself and followed Jake into the waiting room, where he was staring at the object in the girl's hands. 

"My jacket," he said softly, meeting the girl's gaze, "How did you find me, Kari?" Kari smiled as she gave Jake back his jacket. 

"It was actually my brother who found you," she replied, blushing. The guy, presumably Kari's brother, reached the two and smiled. 

"It's a good thing you found him, Kari," he said, "I was having no luck getting anything out of that cop." On closer inspection, Jake found Kari's brother's face to be light-hearted and easy-going. He had a unique hairstyle, which spread out to both extremes. He smiled and extended his hand to Jake, who grasped it. "I've heard a lot about you from Kari," he said. The comment made Kari's face go beet red. "My name's Taichi, but you can call me Tai." Jake smiled. 

"I'm Jake Stevens," Jake replied. He threw on his jacket and addressed the Kamiya siblings. "I'd like to thank you both for taking the time to find me and to return my jacket." Tai shrugged his shoulders. 

"Hey, it was the least I could do," he said, "That was a good thing you did, protecting those kids." Jake shrugged. 

"You probably would have done the same thing," he replied. Tai smirked and nodded. 

"Yeah, you're probably right," he said. He turned to Kari, and gave her a look. Kari sighed, and nodded. 

"We have to get going, Jake," she said quietly. Jake looked at his watch and nodded. 

"Yeah. It's getting late," he replied, turning to Tai, "It was nice meeting you, Tai." He smiled at them both, turned and walked to the door. "Maybe I'll see you guys later," he said, giving a small wave of his hand. He opened the door, and walked out of the station. Tai glanced over at his little sister, who watched Jake walk out of the building. 

"Come on, sis," he said, putting his arm around her shoulders, "We should get home." Kari nodded, and the two of them walked out the door. 

____________________________________________________________________________   
  
Jake walked back to the hotel in silence, with only his thoughts to accompany him. I should have been there, he thought angrily, if I had been there I could have stopped what happened, but no, I had to go and "find someone to talk to". He scoffed at himself in disgust. I have to stop thinking like this, he realized. These things must have happened for a reason, but why them? 

When Jake reached the hotel, he paid no attention to the cops standing outside and walked straight in without paying them any mind. He walked up to his floor, and saw the door to his room to be slightly ajar. Creeping along the wall, he silently approached the door, hoping that the reason the door was open was simply a maid who forgot to close it. When he reached the frame of the door, he was able to make out voices. 

"Have you found anything?" asked a voice, who sounded like a New Yorker for some strange reason. 

"I'm afraid not," replied a second voice, which sounded almost ghostly. "Master, are you sure he is the chosen one?" the first voice asked, "We've searched every inch of this room, and we haven't found a digivice or a digi- egg anywhere." Jake's eyes widened. Digivice? What could they be talking about, he wondered. 

"Believe me, my pawn, he is the one," replied a muffled voice, which sounded eerily familiar to Jake, "I could see it in his eyes." Suddenly, the realization hit Jake like a ton of bricks. That voice...it's him, he realized, finally, he's going to get what he deserves. He balled his fists and prepared to enter the room. "You can be of no more use to me there," the master replied, "Return to me now." Realizing that his prey might escape, Jake leapt into the room...to find that no one was there! He methodically searched the room for any sign of the intruders, but none remained. He sighed, and entered the bathroom to take a shower before he left. The hot water felt good on his tense muscles, and he was able to loosen up for the first time all day. After he had finished, as he dried his hair facing the mirror, his hands froze. The symbol, which had been traced over his heart, was now pitch black, and eerily cold to the touch. Confused and shaken, he dressed himself, gathered up his things and returned to the lobby to check out. As he did, the woman at the counter expressed her condolences, but he wasn't interested. He had a sullen look on his face as he walked out of the hotel and went to look for somewhere to live.  
____________________________________________________________________________   
  
Tai and Kari walked in silence from the police station to their home. As they exited from the elevator, they saw a blonde-haired guy sitting in front of their door. Tai immediately pulled Kari close to him, and motioned for her to stay behind him. As they got closer, they guy came into focus. Tai breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that the guy was TK Takaishi, one of their fellow digidestined. When he saw their approach, TK got up and moved to meet them half way. When TK reached them, Tai noticed a worried look in his eyes. 

"What's up, TK?" he asked. TK glanced over at Kari. 

"Kari was supposed to meet me, Davis, Ken, Yolei and Cody for lunch, but she never showed up. Davis wanted to start a full search of both this world and the digital world for her, but the rest of us managed to convince him to let me stop over at your house to see if you were here." Tai smiled as he saw the worried look in TK's eyes as he glanced at Kari. 

"Don't worry, TK," he replied, "We just had to return something to a friend. I should have gotten Kari to call you to tell you the change of plans, but we were in a hurry." He waved his hands teasingly in a shooing motion. "Now get going, lover boy, it's been a long day all around. I don't know about Kari, but I could use some rest." TK blushed at the "lover boy" comment, but nodded and, with a wave to Tai and Kari, walked to the elevator and disappeared within the doors. Tai shook his head in amazement, sighed and led his sister inside the apartment. Almost immediately after entering, the phone rang. Groaning, Tai rushed over and answered the phone. "Kamiya residence, Taichi speaking," he said. 

"Hi, Tai," the voice on the other end replied. Tai's face brightened. 

"Hey, Izzy," he said, "What's up?" 

"Oh, you know, Tai, the usual," Izzy replied, "Working on my laptop, get yet another prophecy from Gennai about how both worlds are going to be destroyed. Same old, same old." Tai's eyebrows rose. 

"Another prophecy?" he asked, slumping into a chair, "I think I've had enough of Gennai and his stupid prophecies." 

"So have I, Tai," Izzy said, "but we're the only hope the digital world has, so we have to take this seriously." Tai sighed. 

"I know, Izzy," he replied, "Come to the park near our apartment complex. I'll call up the other digidestined and meet you there." 

"Will do," Izzy said, "Bye." 

"Bye," Tai replied, clicking off the phone. Before he could replace it on the charger, however, it rang yet again. Groaning in despair, he brought the phone to his ear and answered. "Kamiya residence, Taichi speaking." 

"Hey, man," the voice said. Tai smirked. 

"Hey, Matt," Tai replied. 

"We're on our way over, but we're caught in traffic," Matt said. 

"No," Tai replied. 

"Excuse me?" Matt asked, obviously taken aback. 

"No. Don't even bother coming over, because you'll just have to go back out again," Tai said, "Izzy just got some news from Gennai, so just meet us in the park. Call Joe and tell him to meet us there as well, and I'll gather up the younger crew." 

"Alright, man, we drive right by Joe's house, so we'll pick him up," Matt replied, "See you there." 

"Yeah, bye," Tai said, clicking off the phone. He walked over to Kari, who was drinking a glass of water at the kitchen table. "Kari, I need you to call the younger digidestined and tell them to meet us in the park," Tai said, smirking, "It's time they experienced they're first prophecy." Kari smiled and nodded, and ran out of the apartment before Tai could say anything else. Tai smiled, shook his head and headed down to the park. ____________________________________________________________________________   
  
Jake glanced at the address in the newspaper. Yeah, he thought, this is the place. He studied the place intently, taking in every detail, every nook and cranny. He walked through the parking lot to the door. Drawing in a breath, he pushed open the door and crept inside. He saw goods stacked in the warehouse from corner to corner, and it was apparent why help was needed here. Near the back of the warehouse, he saw a darkly tanned, muscular man coming his way with a load of boxes grasped in his arms. 

"Can I help you?" he asked when he arrived.  
  
"I'm looking for a job," Jake responded, "I saw your ad in the paper, and I was wondering if the position was still open." The man grunted.  
  
"Yeah, it's still open," he replied.  
  
"What are the rates?" Jake asked. The man scratched his head.  
  
"Eight dollars an hour," he said.  
  
"I don't know." Jake replied, thoughtfully.  
  
"I'm telling you, kid, this is the best offer you're gonna get anywhere around here," the warehouse owner said. Jake frowned.  
  
"I guess you're right," he conceded, "Do you know anywhere around here where I can live for cheap?" The man's brow furrowed in concentration for a moment before responding.  
  
"I can let you live in the room upstairs," he said, "but that means I'll only be able to pay you minimum wage." Jake nodded.  
  
"That's good enough for me," he replied, extending his hand, "My name is Jake Stevens, mister..." The man smiled and shook his head.  
  
"Oh no, no, no," he said, sounding shocked, "'Mister' nothing. Just call me Victor, that's what all my employees do." Victor accepted Jake's hand warmly. "Welcome to the real world," he said.

________________________________________________________________  
  
Now that Jake's life has settled down (more or less), how will he cope with living on his own? What's Gennai's new prophecy all about? And why was someone (if you've read the previous chapter, you know who I'm talking about) searching Jake's former hotel room? This and more in the next chapter of "Digimon: A New Beginning"


	5. Chapter V

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but these are my original ideas. I'm going to try and add a little bit of romantic flavour in the story, so in your reviews, please tell me who your favourite digidestined pairings are (as in romantic pairings). Try and include all of the digidestined pairings that you think would work well.  
  
"So why are we here again?" Joe asked quizzically. Tai groaned and shook his head in despair. 

"Haven't I already told you?" he asked, "We have to wait for Izzy to show up before we can find out what's going on." As if one cue, Izzy came running through the entrance. When he reached the others, he was breathing heavily.

"Sorry I'm late, guys," he said, "It took forever for my laptop to shut down. Is everyone here?" Tai nodded and gestured to the two groups of people. In one group stood the original eight digidestined, minus Izzy, and in the other stood the current four digidestined. Izzy smiled in approval and gestured for the digidestined, young and old, to gather around him. "I've gotten some disturbing news from Gennai." Matt rolled his eyes.

"So what else is new?" he muttered. Mimi covered her mouth, trying to stifle a giggle, unsuccessfully. Tai smirked at the giggle, while Davis, Ken, Yolei and Cody looked at each other confusedly. Izzy waved his hands, and Mimi stopped.

"That's better," he said, "As most of you know, Gennai has a tendency to always bring bad news to us, whether it's intentional or not." Tai smirked.

"Izzy, has anyone ever told you that you have a gift for understatement?" he asked quizzically, which got a laugh from everyone. Izzy groaned.

"Fair enough, fair enough," he said, smiling, "but now we have to get serious. Gennai has found a prophecy that fortells the destruction of both the digital and real worlds. It will probably be eaasier if I turn it over to Gennai to explain." He unstrapped his laptop from his back, opened it and turned it to face the digidestined. The screen brightened and a small animated version of young Gennai appeared.

"Hello, again, young ones," he said.

"Hello, Gennai," they all replied in unison.

"We have a crisis situation on our hands. With the help of Centaurumon, I have found an ancient prophecy which has the potential to wreak havoc on both worlds. Here it is:

Through tragedy, a chosen one, forced to bear the mark of evil, shall appear to take up the mantle of justice.

Fallen adversaries will rise up to wage war against the forces of good.

A powerful entity will reveal itself from amongst the chaos, like an angel of death.

Seeking to release the true power of darkness, the entity must enlist the aid of a child.

The fate of two worlds shall rest upon a painful choice.

The path of light may appear to be right, but only in darkness will salvation be found.

A ~bzzt, crack, bzzt~

"What's going on?" Davis exclaimed. Izzy spun around and began typing furiously on the keyboard.

"I don't know, just give me a minute," he cried.

"I'm sorry, children," Gennai said, "Unfortunately, we've had some...environmental concerns which interfered with the transmission. I would suggest that you all go over the portion of prophecy which I was able to send to you, and myself and Centaurumon will attempt to restore the transmission. Good luck." The screen faded to black, leaving the digidestined to ponder the meaning of the prophecy.

"Well, the portion of the prophecy which we've received seems to be straight-forward enough," Izzy stated, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"Not necessarily," TK said, "'Through tragedy'. That means that it could basically be anyone except the 12 of us!" While TK and Izzy argued, Tai and Kari's eyes met.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Tai asked her. Kari nodded.

"I'm pretty sure I am, yeah," she replied. Yolei glared at the Kamiya siblings.

"What are you two talking about?" she exclaimed. TK and Izzy stopped their argument and joined the others in turning their gazes to Tai and Kari. Tai cleared his throat.

"Jake," he said simply. Mimi blinked in surprise.

"Jake...as in Jake Stevens?" she asked. Kari's eyes widened and she nodded.

"How did you know?" she asked. Mimi shrugged her shoulders.

"I met him while I was in the airport waiting for Sora to pick me up," she replied. Both Sora's and Matt's heads snapped towards Mimi.

"That guy you were talking about?" they asked in unison, "Are you saying--"

"Exactly," Tai replied, "His parents were killed a little while after he met Kari." Davis and Ken opened their mouthes to speak, but nothing came out. Izzy broke the silence.

"Well, that would certainly make him a feasable person to be involved with this prophecy," he said, "but we'll have to be sure." Tai and Matt both nodded in agreement.

"You're right, Izzy," Tai replied, "Does anyone have any complaints about me handing out assignments?" Davis was about to open his mouth, but Cody smartly clapped a hand over his mouth. Tai smirked. "Thank you, Cody. Now, on to business. Joe, I need you, Ken and Izzy to help Gennai repair the transmission." Joe, Ken and Izzy nodded, and Tai turned to TK and Kari. "Kari, TK, I need you two to find Jake. We need proof that he's the one that the prophecy is talking about. If you can find him, keep an eye out for this 'mark of evil'." TK and Kari nodded. "Sora, you and Mimi are going to tell Davis, Yolei and Cody about our run-ins with our old enemies. The prophecy talks about old enemies coming back to fight us, and I want them to be prepared for anything." Sora and Mimi glanced at the three younger digidestined in question and nodded. "Matt, you're with me. We have to get back to the digital world and gather up our digimon. Who knows when that prophecy is going to be fulfilled!"  
Everyone agreed to meet at Izzy's house the next day to fill each other in on their progress. They each turned and went to accomplish their part of the plan.  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Back in the park, Spike was still lying unconscious on the path. A figure crouching over him smacked his cheeks in an attempt to wake him. With a groan of remembered pain, Spike's eyes opened. He looked at his surroundings, and, to his surprise, he was still in the park. Muttering under his breath, he pushed himself to his feet. When he became acclimated to the area, he turned his focus on the man who had woken him up.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked. The man smirked.

"I'm someone who can help you obtain your revenge on the cho--I mean, the one who embarassed you earlier today," he replied. Spike glared at the man and smiled.

"You read my mind, man," he said, "but what do you want in return?" The man shrugged his shoulders.

"I just want your help with something," he replied, "All will be explained soon, Spike." Spike paled visibly.

"How do you know my name?" he asked, regaining his composure.

"That is none of your concern," the man replied, "Now come with me." Spike shrugged his shoulders, and walked towards the man, unaware of what was in store for him.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

TK and Kari decided to begin their search for Jake at the Police Station. As they walked to the building, they talked about their lives since the final battle with MaloMyotismon.

"So, Kari, have you had your eye on anyone lately?" TK asked. Kari blushed slightly.

"Yeah, there's someone that I think I like, but I'm not sure if he feels the same," she replied. TK scoffed.

"If this guy doesn't like you at all, than he's more of an idiot than I can imagine," he said, "With your personality, there's no guy that you shouldn't be able to win over." Kari blushed profusely, before turning TK's own questions back at him.

"Well, what about you?" she asked, "Is there anyone that you're interested in?" TK smiled softly.

"Well...there are plenty of nice-looking girls who are interested in me, but there's only one girl who I'm interested in." Kari smiled.

"She's pretty lucky if she's caught your eye," she said. TK blushed.

"Maybe, but I'm afraid that she might only want to be friends," he whispered. Kari placed a hand on his shoulder.

"TK, you shouldn't hold off from telling her how you feel just because you're afraid of rejection. If you do that, you'll go through the rest of your life wishing that you had asked." TK smiled and nodded.

"You're right, Kari," he said, "I'll think about it." Kari smiled sweetly and returned her gaze to the street in front of her. At that point, they had reached the station. They walked inside and approached the reception desk. The receptionist looked up and smiled.

"What can I do for you two?" she asked. TK stepped forward.

"Hi, we're here to try and find a friend of ours who stopped by here earlier today," he said. The receptionist nodded and wheeled herself over to her computer.

"Can I have your friend's name please?" she asked.

"Jake Stevens," Kari replied. A man about to walk out of the building stopped at the mention of Jake, and he walked back to the reception desk.

"It's all right, Jess," he said, "I'll handle them." Jess nodded and turned back to TK and Kari.

"Just follow Detective Folk and he'll try and help you," she said, "Have a nice day." TK and Kari nodded their thanks and turned to follow Detective Fair, who had walked down the hall and opened one of the doors, motioning for them to enter.


	6. Chapter VI

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but these are my original ideas. I'm going to try and add a little bit of romantic flavour in the story, so I thought I would warn you all before it happens and anyone starts complaining. Enjoy.

"Hey, Izzy," Joe inquired, "How exactly are we going to figure out the rest of the prophecy?" He, Izzy and Ken had left the park and were now sitting in Izzy's bedroom, just about to start working on their task.

"It's relatively simple," Izzy replied, "We're going to try to create a live feed to Gennai in the digital world so that we can try and finish receiving the prophecy." Joe and Ken nodded.

"That sounds simple enough," Ken said thoughtfully. Joe, however, was skeptical.

"Don't you two remember what Gennai said earlier?" he asked. "They were having problems, so what makes you think that it will be that easy?"

"We never said it would be easy," Izzy chided, "We only said that it sounded easy." Ken nodded in agreement.

"Of course it's going to take a while," he responded, "but the good thing is that it can be done. And if it can be done, than we can do it. Right, Izzy?" Izzy smiled and nodded.

"You're right, Ken," he replied. Joe sighed, and nodded.

"I guess you're right," he said. Izzy looked at Joe and gestured towards the door.

"Hey, Joe, can you go to the kitchen and get us some food? This job is going to take a while, and it will be easier to work if we don't have to leave the room to eat." Joe nodded, got up and left the room.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, Tai and Matt were in the Digital World, heading for the rendezvous that Gennai had set up for them to meet up with their digimon. They were walking at a nice easy pace, reflecting about what was happening in their lives.

"How are things going with you and Sora?" Tai asked. Matt shrugged and smiled.

"Things are great, Tai," he replied, "Why? Do you want her back?" Tai gave Matt his trademark smirk and scoffed.

"Of course I want her back," he said, "but she's happy with you. As long as she's happy, that's all that matters to me." Matt stared at his friend in wonder.

"Damn, Agumon was right," he said in disbelief, "You really have grown up." Tai shrugged his shoulders.

"So I'm told," he said simply. He looked at Matt and got a familiar glint in his eye. Matt groaned when he saw the look in Tai's eyes.

"All right, Kamiya, what crazy idea is running through that thick skull of yours?" he demanded. Tai smiled innocently.

"Who, me? Whatever do you mean?" he asked. Matt smirked.

"Come on, man, stop keeping me in suspense. What hair-brained idea have you cooked up this time?" Tai grinned.

"All right, you win. Since we're on the subject of relationships, tell me the first two names that come to your mind when you think of the perfect couple." Before Matt could open his mouth, Tai added, "By the way, it can't be you and Sora." Matt smirked and faked a groan.

"That really hurt," he said sarcastically. His brow furrowed as he began to think. His eyes widened in understanding. "You don't mean..."

"Yeah, I do," he replied.

"How long have you known?" he asked. Tai shrugged his shoulders.

"I've known just as long as you have," he replied, "It's been as easy for me to spot in Kari as I'm sure it's been for you to spot in TK." Matt smiled.

"There's only one problem," he replied, "How do we get them together?" Tai smirked.

"We can worry about that later. Right now we have to get to the rendezvous point." Matt nodded in agreement, as they sped up their pace and continued down the path.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Why are you looking for Jake Stevens?" Detective Folk asked. He, T.K. and Kari were sitting in his office. The office was very sparsely furnished, with no indication of a family whatsoever. All there was was a mahogany desk, a black leather desk chair and two standard-issue straight-backed chairs, in which T.K. and Kari were currently sitting. T.K. cleared his throat.

"We can't tell you that," he said. Detective Folk's eyebrows rose. Normally, the people that he dealt with were up front with their reasons, and he was a little bit surprised.

"You can't tell me? I'm sorry, but it doesn't look very good if you can't give me the reason, so I can't give you any information. Besides, I don't know where he went. The only way I have of contacting him is if _he_ calls _me_." TK's eyes widened, and he cursed loudly. Fortunately, Kari reacted better to the news than TK.

"Look, Detective, could you at least contact us if he gets in touch with you?" she pleaded. Detective Folk sighed, looked first at Kari, then at TK.

"Alright," he replied, rubbing his brow. "But that's the best that I can do." TK sighed in relief as Kari gave her contact information to Detective Folk. Five minutes later, TK and Kari were walking out of the police department and into the bright sunshine.


	7. Chapter VII

DISCLAIMER: To those of you who care, I'm sorry that this chapter took so long to write and upload. With school, and the fact that my computer was having fits, I lost all of my rough drafts of this and all subsequent chapters, so I had to start from scratch. Try not to flame too much, and feel free to review and submit suggestions for subsequent chapters.  
  
Jake wiped the sweat off of his brow as he leaned back against a stack of boxes. It was his first day working for Victor in the warehouse, about three days after he got interviewed, and he was working hard to make a good first impression on his co-workers. After eight hours of working non- stop with hardly any rest, Jake felt as if he were ready to collapse from the effort he was putting in. Victor saw Jake leaning heavily against the stack of boxes, and walked over to talk to him.  
"You're not used to working like this, are you, kid?" Jake smiled weakly and shook his head in agreement. "Take five, kid. Go get some air." Jake nodded his thanks and slowly walked out the door of the warehouse and into the bright sunshine. He had a white sweatshirt tied around his waist, and his black tank top was drenched with sweat. He let out a sigh of relief as he pulled a bottle of water from a canister attached to his belt, and proceeded to take a long drink from it. Almost unconsciously, his hand reached under his tank top and touched the mark that his parents' murderer had imprinted on his chest. As always, it felt deathly cold to the touch, and sent a chill running throughout the rest of his body. He moved the bottle back towards his mouth, and was about to take another drink, when he felt a hand grip his shoulder. Instinctively, he grabbed the wrist the hand was attached to, and whirled around, his other hand letting the water bottle fall to the ground and curling into a fist. When he caught a glimpse of the assailant's face, he turned his head to the side and sighed, removing his hand from the wrist it had been previously holding.  
"What are you doing here, Tai?" he asked. Tai rubbed his wrist, working the circulation back into it.  
"Looking for you, actually. What are you doing around these parts?" Jake bent down and picked up his fallen water bottle.  
"Working." He took a drink from the bottle and offered it to Tai. Tai shook his head, and he looked into Jake's eyes, all hints of jokingness aside.  
"I need to talk to you. Is there someplace private where we can talk?" Jake nodded slightly and motioned for Tai to follow him. The two of them walked into the warehouse, and crossed the grounds deeper inside the building.  
"Can we use your office, Victor?" Jake asked the man, who was scribbling furiously on a clipboard. Victor looked up from his clipboard, nodded and returned his full attention to the clipboard. Jake led Tai through the maze of boxes and crates to Victor's office. Once inside, Jake shut the door and locked it. He turned to Tai, and crossed his arms across his chest.  
"Alright. Let's hear what you have to say." Tai licked his parched lips and began to speak. "I, as well as some of my friends and kids all around the world, am what is called a Digidestined. We protect both the real world and the digital world from the forces of evil." Jake's eyebrows rose as Tai mentioned the digital world.  
"The digital world...is that the weird image that was in the sky a few years ago?" Tai nodded enthusiastically.  
"Yes, that's right. Now, we've recently discovered a prophecy that tells of a dark force intent on destroying both worlds."  
"But what does that have to do with me?"  
"We think that you're the one that the prophecy talks about." Jake looked curiously at Tai.  
"How can you be sure?" Tai took a deep breath.  
"We're sure for two reasons. First, the prophecy says that the chosen one will appear through tragedy. Your parents were killed, so that's one piece of evidence. Second, the prophecy says that the chosen one will be forced to bear the mark of evil. Do you have something like that anywhere on your body?" Jake's breath caught in his throat.  
"Yes," he managed to choke out, the words almost getting lost in the midst of the pounding of his heartbeat. He slowly lifted up his tank top to show Tai the black mark on his chest. Tai reached out and touched the mark, jerking his hand back suddenly at the shock of feeling such...evil emanating from it.  
"Well, this goes a long way to confirming that you're who we're looking for."  
"I don't know about you, but I'm going to need a little bit more proof than this. This could all be just a series of strange coincidences." Tai rubbed his hand slowly up and down his jaw.  
"What time do you get off work?" Jake looked at the clock hanging over the door of the office.  
"In about an hour. Why?" Tai put a hand on Jake's shoulder.  
"I think I can get you all the evidence you want. I'll be back when your shift ends." Jake nodded and opened the door of the office, allowing Tai to slip out into the main area of the warehouse. Jake drew in a slow breath, ran his fingers through his hair, and left the office, closing the door behind him.  
  
Tai quickly worked his way through the warehouse and out the front door. He crossed the street and walked up the sidewalk until he reached a pay phone, inserted the correct amount of money, and dialed the number for Izzy's cell phone.  
"Hello?"  
"Hey, Izzy. I found him."  
"So soon?" Izzy's voice had a tinge of surprise to it.  
"Yeah, I could barely believe it either, but I did. Call the others and tell them that we've found him, then meet me at the coffee shop near Shinjuku station, and make sure you bring your laptop. We have to be absolutely sure that he's the one talked of in the prophecy. We have to see if he gets a digivice."  
"Will do. See you in a nano." Tai hung up the phone and walked into a nearby music store to kill time until Jake got off his shift. He let his gaze move across the whole of the store, checking the faces of the people browsing the various shelves to see if anyone he knew was inside. His gaze came across a poster of the Teenage Wolves, and he smirked, knowing that Matt would get a kick out of seeing a poster of his band displayed so prominently. Maybe if I get Matt to sign this poster, the manager of the store would give me some free CD's, Tai thought to himself.  
After fourty-five minutes of light browsing through the store, he left the store and returned to the warehouse where Jake worked. He found Jake waiting for him at the street corner, rather than inside the warehouse as Tai had assumed he would be waiting. The sweatshirt which had been previously wrapped around his waist was not there anymore, and he was now wearing his jacket over his wet tank top.  
"Let's get going. I'm anxious to see what this is all about." Tai nodded in agreement and the two of them walked to the coffee shop where they were to meet Izzy. They entered the shop, placed their orders at the counter, and sat down at a small, round table near the window to keep a look-out for Izzy's appearance. A few moments after sitting down, Jake became curious about what Tai had said to him earlier in the day.  
"Why exactly am I so important? I mean, I'm nobody. I'm just an average ordinary guy." Tai shook his head furiously.  
"That's not true, Jake. In all my years of either leading or advising the digidestined, I've come to know that prophecies in regards to the digital world cannot be taken lightly. If we had ignored the first prophecy we ever found, a digimon named Myotismon would be controlling the world right now." Tai's glance moved from Jake to the window, where he saw Izzy jogging towards the coffee shop, with his laptop in tow. He turned his gaze back to Jake. "Anyways, we should get some definitive answers right now. Here comes Izzy."  
Izzy came through the door of the shop, looked around and, when he caught a glimpse of Tai and Jake, waved and walked over to their table.  
"Jake, this is Izzy Izumi. Izzy, this is Jake Stevens, the guy I was telling you about." As Jake and Izzy shook hands, a waitress came over and delivered Jake and Tai's drinks. She turned to Izzy and asked to take his order. Izzy politely smiled and shook his head, and sat down in an empty chair as the waitress walked off. He placed his laptop on the table, opened it up and turned it on. As the system booted up, Izzy turned to Jake.  
"Well, Jake, it looks as if the proof you so desire to see will be shown to you very shortly." As soon as the process of booting finished, Izzy began typing furiously, and brought a digital port onto the screen. He looked at Tai and nodded quickly, motioning to the window. Tai touched Jake's shoulder and urged him to move his seat towards the window. Jake obliged, and the three of them were sitting huddled in front of the laptop, preparing to see the evidence that each of them were looking for. Tai looked over to Izzy, who nodded slowly.  
"Do it, Izzy." Izzy tapped a few keys, and the digital gate opened in a bright flash of pure white light. Jake peered curiously at the screen, and reached his hand out to touch the screen. As soon as his fingers made contact with the screen, the white light, which had previously been a soft glow, became a blinding pulse of light, which blinded everyone in the coffee shop. Jake's arm instinctively moved to his face to cover his eyes, and when he was finally able to see again, he felt an object being clutched in his hand. He slowly removed his arm, and opened his hand to see a small device within it. The face of the device was divided into two colours, white and silver, with the middle of the device being white, with silver on each side. With their sight restored, Tai and Izzy looked at Jake, and saw the device being clutched in his hand.  
"Well, then. This digivice clinches it. You're our guy," Tai stated matter-of-factly. Izzy reached out his hand to the digivice, and looked imploringly at Jake.  
"May I?" he asked. Jake nodded, and let Izzy take the digivice from his hand. Izzy examined it closely, rolling it between his hands, when something caught his eye. On the back of the digivice, directly in the middle, a small symbol seemed to be engraved into it.  
"What is that?" he thought aloud. Tai move his head and peered at the symbol.  
"It looks like...a set of scales, but what does that have to do with anything?"  
"I think I have a pretty good idea," Jake said, his arms crossed across his chest. "In America, a set of scales normally represents justice." Izzy nodded, and returned the digivice to Jake.  
"It seems like this is a D-3 which has integrated a crest into its design. In this case, it's the Crest of Justice. I had always assumed that there were only eight crests, the ones that we had when we were on our adventure. Although, now that I think about it, it would make sense if there were quite a large number of crests, one for every possible positive, or negative, attribute." Tai nodded in understanding, and slowly pushed himself to his feet.  
"Well, now that we know you're one of us, you'll need to know what we're dealing with. Talk to Izzy, he'll tell you when and where we'll be meeting. Now, I've got to go: I have a prior engagement that I have to get to. I'll talk to you later, Jake. Izzy, I'll call you later tonight, and we'll go over the schedule for the next couple of days." Izzy nodded, and got up.  
"I should be leaving too. I only told my mother that I was going to the drugstore. I'm pretty sure she's worrying about me as we speak." Jake reached out and shook first Tai's, then Izzy's hand.  
"I'll see you guys soon." Tai and Izzy left the coffee shop, leaving Jake to think over what had just happened. He rolled his new digivice between his hands, picked up his coffee cup and took a drink.  
  
So what do you guys think? Please review, and check out my other stories. Thanks in advance. 


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